MacRumors

Apple patent applications tend to cover a broad set of topics, including many research items that never make their way out of the labs. A new one found this morning, however, is more interesting than usual given the recent rumors of an Apple television.

The application is titled "Configurable Remote Control" and is detailed by PatentlyApple.

In the application, Apple describes the use of the iPhone as a self-configuring universal remote for your home entertainment system. Specifically, they suggest using the iPhone's camera to take a photo of your existing remote, and then comparing that photo to a database of known remotes.

The method may begin by obtaining an input that may be used to identify the electronic device that is to be controlled, such as by using image processing techniques to compare the captured image against a database of known devices.

Apple acknowledges the iPhone in question would also need IR transmission capabilities. The patent application is dated from 2010.

Apple has been widely expected to use voice-recognition in their rumored Apple Television. As with many patent applications, we don't necessarily think this concept will make its way into production. Still, it shows Apple's research interests into home entertainment systems and seems relevant given the ongoing rumors of a Apple TV set.

Adobe has launched a free public beta for their new Photoshop CS6 Beta. As detailed in the press release, the commercial release will follow in the first half of this year for both Mac and Windows. Final pricing has not been announced.

According to Macworld, the new version of Photoshop works only on 64-bit Mac systems and is no longer available in 32-bit mode. CNet provides a hands-on look of the new Photoshop and describes some of the many changes:

There's so much big news surrounding Photoshop CS6 that I'm not sure where to start. This is Adobe's first-ever public beta of its most important product (expected to ship sometime in the first half of this year). It's the first Adobe product to incorporate the company's new DRM architecture. It's the first version of Photoshop to take video seriously and to make it into the Standard Edition of the product rather than the extra-pricey Extended version. It's the first version to integrate the company's GPU-accelerating Mercury Graphics Engine (MGE) . And for the first time in more than 20 years, Photoshop goes dark.

Macworld also covers many of the new changes in detail.

Adobe highlights several of the new features found in Photoshop CS6 in this video:

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta is available for download at Adobe's site.

Reuters relays rumors from a South Korean newspaper which revives claims of a larger screen on the next iPhone.

Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

A 4.6-inch screen, however, would be significantly larger than that has been previously rumored. There have been persistent rumors that the next generation iPhone would carry a larger 4" screen. And we are convinced that Apple had exactly such designs in late prototype stages in China. The proliferation of iPhone cases with measurements of at least a 4" screen seemed to suggest that a number of suppliers were also convinced of that fact.

A 4.6" screen, however, is even harder to believe, and would place the new iPhone amongst the largest screen sizes available on a smartphone. Here's a comparison shot between the 4.65" screen of the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S which has a 3.5" screen.

Apple has been consistent by offering the same screen size (3.5") across five generations of iPhones, so any change would be notable. The reason this particular claim seems most dubious, however, is the fact that it comes from an otherwise unknown Korean media source with no track record.

Still, it's hard to dismiss the talk of a larger 4" iPhone screen completely. Back in November, iLounge first reported that the 3rd Generation iPad would be "approximately 0.7 mm" thicker than the iPad 2. As it turns out, they were on the mark with the actual new iPad being 0.6 mm thicker (per official specs) than the previous design. The same source that provided that information had this to say about the next generation iPhone:

Our source says that the next-generation iPhone will not look like the teardrop-shaped version that was widely rumored for release in 2011. We’ve been told that the device will have a 4-inch display and will be 8mm longer than before, with a metal casing (probably aluminum). It is on track to be introduced in summer of 2012, and is still in the engineering phase, not early production. We suspect that poor battery life doomed the prior prototype version, and that this one is being built with LTE-ready battery drain in mind.

Netflix's iOS App has been updated with new iPad Retina icons and images. The actual video stream hasn't yet been updated to High Definition.

However, Netflix's Twitter account promises that High Definition streaming is following later.

The @Netflix iPad App now has high resolution icons and images, enhancing Netflix on the new iPad, HD video to follow later. Enjoy!

Streaming in HD will, of course, use more bandwidth. Usage over LTE data networks could result in users quickly depleting their bandwidth allowances.

The Netflix iOS App is a free download, but you need a Netflix account to use it. [Direct Link]

Social game-maker Zynga has agreed to acquire OMGPOP, the development house behind the incredibly popular Draw Something. The acquisition price is reported to be $180 million plus $30 million in employee retention payments, according to Peter Kafka at All Things D, though Zynga isn't confirming that number.

OMGPOP brings to Zynga an incredible team of industry veterans and a community of highly engaged players. It’s a great industry example of creating games around the ethos of giving people a place to play, meet and make friends. OMGPOP’s existing mobile and platform games will not change. We fully support what they’ve built to date, and we’re going to work hard to give Draw Something and all of their games the resources and tools they need to grow and flourish.

Dan Porter has built an amazing team and culture at OMGPop, and I can’t wait to see what that team builds next. We think we can amplify their efforts, and we’re going to work together to make sure that more players love more of their games, both in the current stable of titles, and new IP we’ll see in the future.

Draw Something has shot to the top of the App Store charts since it was released six weeks ago, logging 35 million downloads. Last week alone, Draw Something recorded more than 1 billion drawings.

Draw Something is available as a universal app, in a free ad-supported edition and a $0.99 ad-free version. [Direct Links: $0.99/Free]

LoopInsight reports that Apple's new iPhoto for iOS has hit 1 million users in the 10 days from its launch:

Apple told me today that its newest iOS app, iPhoto, hit 1 million users in less than 10 days after its release. It’s important to note that figure is users, not downloads. It’s quite possible that one user downloaded the app multiple times, but Apple isn’t counting those, only the unique users.

At $4.99 per sale, that comes to $4,990,000 in revenue over that time.

Apple launched iPhoto in early March alongside the new iPad announcement. iPhoto for iOS runs on both iPad and iPhone and provides a Multi-Touch interface to browse, edit and share photos from your iOS device. [Direct Link]

Avatron, the makers of the popular Air Display app for iOS, revealed today that they will be updating their utility to fully support the 3rd Generation iPad.

Air Display allows you to use your iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch) as an extra display for your Mac or Windows computer. This old video shows how the app works.

The iPad acts as a wireless second screen that can be used by OS X in the same manner as any other monitor.

The developers were able to get their screen-extending app working with the new iPad with good performance. But using a 2048x1536 iPad as a secondary screen computer screen would result in very small windows, text and user interface elements. So, the team has also included support for Lion's new HiDPI mode. We've covered HiDPI mode in the past. HiDPI mode allows OS X to support high resolution monitors while retaining the same relative size for user interface elements, such as windows and buttons.

HiDPI mode will let the new iPad act like a 1024x768 point screen where each point is made up of 4 pixels. Apple has already built in support for HiDPI and some of their Apps, such as Messages, already include Retina-sized artwork that work in this mode. Users simply have to choose "1024x768 (HiDPI)" mode in their System Preferences to take advantage of the new mode.

Air Display is a $9.99 Universal App in the App Store. [iTunes] The Retina-enabled version will be included in a forthcoming update.

Mobile analytics company Flurry reports that activation of new iOS and Android devices in China has surpassed the U.S. for the first time.

February, Flurry calculated that China surpassed the United States in monthly new iOS and Android device activations for the first time in history. China is now the world’s fastest growing smart device market.

While the data shows combined iOS and Android data, it reflects the same audience of smartphone buyers. Apple has been making efforts to expand their presence in China. They even included a number of China-specific features in their upcoming Mountain Lion release.

In addition, reflective of the increase in activations, China was also the fastest growing country in app usage as measured by app session growth.

A story that is getting some traction this morning is a Wall Street Journal article about how quickly new iPad users are consuming their monthly bandwidth allotments over LTE. We covered this story on our iOS Blog. While the conclusion may seem an obvious, carriers are beginning to consider other ways to help shift the bandwidth cost away from the consumer.

In particular, the Wall Street Journal notes that AT&T is considering a plan to do just that by allowing the content providers to pay for usage of their apps:

AT&T, for example, is studying a plan to give app developers and content providers the option to pay for the mobile data their products use, thereby keeping those apps and videos from counting against a user's allotment of data, kind of like an 800-number for apps.

If implemented, this would presumably allow bandwidth usage for certain apps to be free. For example, watching shows from a TV network app such as ABC Player might not count against your monthly bandwidth allotment. Instead, ABC would pay AT&T (or Verizon) for the mobile bandwidth consumed. In return, ABC would likely see increased usage of their app to watch shows and more revenue from in-show advertising.

Mobile carriers in the U.S. have been moving away from unlimited bandwidth plans over the past few years. Instead bandwidth is sold in specific allotments (2GB, 3GB) per month with additional fees for overages.

The Financial Times reports that Apple is up against rival smartphone makers over the next industry standard for miniaturized SIM cards. (via Engadget).

In May 2011, we reported that Apple had submitted a proposal for a standardized SIM Card design smaller than the micro-SIM currently used in the iPhone 4S and iPad. A smaller SIM card design would allow Apple to create smaller and thinner devices.

Other companies including Motorola, Research in Motion, and Nokia are pushing their own standards for these so-called "nano-SIM" cards.

Micro-Sims are already common in the latest generation of smart devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 4S and Nokia’s Lumia. The nano-Sim is thinner and about a third smaller than the micro-Sim, and would allow more space for other functions.

Apple is said to be already backed by "most of the European operators". Apple has reportedly taken some controversial steps to gain more votes in the final decision on proposals next week.

One of Nokia's objections to Apple's proposal is the use of a "drawer" to protect the nano-SIM card. The drawer design is seen on the iPhone 4S and iPad, allowing the user to eject the SIM from the side of the device.

ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley reports that she has received an internal email regarding a new purchasing policy for Microsoft's Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG).

According to the email, employees of that group at Microsoft are now prohibited from buying Apple products such as the Mac and iPad using company funds. From the email:

Within SMSG we are putting in place a new policy that says that Apple products (Mac & iPad) should not be purchased with company funds.

In the US we will be turning off the Apple products from the Zones Catalog next week, which is the standard purchasing mechanism for these products.

Outside of the US — we will work with your finance and procurement teams to send the right message and put the right processes in place.

The email from Alain Crozier, the chief financial officer of SMSG, claims that the current Apple product purchase levels are "low" but they recognize there will be a bit of transition work to implement it. The email was sent two days before the launch of the 3rd Generation iPad.

When asked for comment, Microsoft returned a "no comment" rather than a denial and Foley believes her source. Microsoft already prohibits the expensing of the iPhone or Blackberry, dating back to 2009. Microsoft has since provided Windows 7 phones to their employees as of 2010.

Microsoft still has a Mac development team known as the Macintosh Business Unit. This unit is responsible for the Mac Office products and was said at one time to be the largest 3rd party Mac software developer. This new Apple purchasing prohibition only seems limited to the SMSG group, according to the article. That group, however, encompasses 40,966 Microsoft employees worldwide. This represents about 45% of their their total workforce of 92,303 employees.

Following up on reports from earlier today that the outer shell of the iPad 3 gets warmer than the iPad 2, Consumer Reports found that their iPad 3 reached temperatures up to 116 degrees after running Infinity Blade II for 45 minutes.

The piece did note that the iPad felt "very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period" during the testing process. In a statement earlier today, Apple said that the iPad was "operating well within our thermal specifications."

We ran our test while the new iPad was propped on the iPad Smart Cover, plugged in, and after it had run Infinity Blade II uninterrupted for about 45 minutes. The device's 4G connection was not turned on, though its Wi-fi link was. The ambient room temperature was about 72 degrees. (Apple recommends not using the iPad in environments over 95 degrees.)

When unplugged, the back of the new iPad reached temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit. It was only when plugged in that it hit 116 degrees. The hottest areas weren't evenly distributed throughout the iPad's back, but were concentrated near one corner of the display as shown in the images taken from the rear of the device above.

Potentially more interesting is Consumer Reports' note that their new iPad didn't charge at all when the game was running. In fact, the battery continued to drain slightly under the extremely heavy CPU and GPU load from Infinity Blade II.

It seems that under extremely heavy processor usage, the iPad is unable to draw sufficient power from its USB connection to both power the device and charge the battery simultaneously.